Are Asics, Saucony, and New Balance envious of Brooks, Hoka ,and On?

Asics, Saucony, and New Balance are definitely down. They lost customer loyalty getting rid of so many models. Sometimes that works out when the new models they replace the old with are good, sometimes it doesn't. I'm sure they wish they made more profit, but so does everyone who isn't nike.

maybe not with athletic shoes but some of new balance like old basktball shoes are "cool" and some of Asics shoes are also becoming "cool"

No one should be envious of Brooks lol. The rest of those brands have at least a couple good shoes.

No, they are not.

I see a lot of Asics on non-runners around here- Kayanos in particular seem to be pretty popular with walkers or people on their feet for most of the day. I suspect that might be regional to some extent- ON for example are like 1.5-2x the price of the other brands here, so they're not the first choice for people just looking for a basic 'supportive' shoe.

Asics and NB also have more of a presence in other sports, which I think is probably a better strategy long-term versus trying to be the 'cool' brand of the moment. Fashion doesn't last by definition, but you can gain a pretty decent market share and brand recognition by catering to specific practical requirements well.

Look at the facts.

2023 revenue of NB is higher than On, Hoka and Brooks combined. More importantly NB in 2023 had a 23% growth. (source: finance.yahoo.com)

Brooks only 5%. The other two both in the 50ish %.

For sure Hoka and On currently are growing fast.

But for the moment I think NB is doing just fine.

New balance does a HUGE business selling "lifestyle" or fashion shoes. I'm not sure where that info is coming from. They sell tons of the 574 as a fashion shoe.

zappos.com

New Balance Classics U574v1

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Take a trip out to the midwest and visit a Harbor Freight Tools and then tell me New Balance isn't absolutely crushing it with dads. I suspect 90% of dads in flyover country own at least one pair of New Balance shoes.

I live in “flyover country” and have a pair of New Balance Mores that I use for walking and they will eventually be rotated to being my “work in the yard” shoes. I bought them with the intent of using them as running shoes but after a few runs decided I didn’t like them. The 1080s work a lot better for me.

The 574s someone mentioned above are very popular fashion shoes among Gen Z and some millennials.

Where I used to live lots of people wore Saucony and Asics for walk around/work shoes as Big 5 sells cheap models for low prices. Brooks, Hoka, and On are "rich people" brands

On and Hoka are "sport style" shoes for people doing workout classes/yoga / a few runs here and there. NB Lifestyle (mainly 990, 574) shoes are super popular as well.

Don't see too many Saucony, Asics or Brooks other than on runners.

Just came back from Italy and everyone rocking Asics over there!

The problem is even a basic model of Asics like the GT series or Cumulus looks too sporty. I don't know if they have any lifestyle shoes. Doesn't help that Asics colors are often terrible and don't look good with jeans or khaki shorts. Haven't noticed more Sauconys. On seems like a fad to me.

I used to use ASICs almost exclusively for running but they can't seem to stop f*cking up whenever they strike gold. Case in point: the newest Novablasts are almost unusable. The first and second generation were great, the latest model is horrible and a total 180 of what made the originals great. Even the Cumulus, which I loved and was approximately the equivalent of the Ghost, is now closer to what the Gel Nimbus used to be back in the day - padded, bulky, and just ugly.

Yes they are jealous, but we get to reap the benefits.

Saucony's can regularly be bought for 50% off. I know Asics are around 40% off. Its easily the best deals on running shoes and for real runners its the obvious way to go over a Hoka at $160

I've never seen brooks on a real runner.

Other brands have beautiful shoes. Brooks has the Beast.

Running Store guy with 13 years in the industry chiming in...

Brooks is killing it because the Ghost, Glycerin and Adrenaline have been consistently good year after year for so many people and when they update those three models they make the smallest changes possible so as not to ruin the shoe for their loyal customer base.

Hoka is killing it because people are wearing running shoes as general lifestyle shoes as well and you can feel the cushion and support of their shoes but they somehow aren't heavy clunkers like you would imagine them to be when looking at them on the wall. For better or worse, they've engineered themselves into a corner (IMO) with the Clifton, Bondi, Arahi and Gaviota so when new models come out it's really just a matter of making sure the fit is still comfortable in your tried and true model or if you need to adjust the size or simply switch to a different model. Grassroots advice from family/friends/colleagues has been driving interest for the last 7-8 years and when you get used to having that much stuff under your foot it just doesn't feel the same. Hoka has also done a smashing job of their courting the younger generation of shoppers and convincing them that all white Cliftons are the IT shoe to have...case in point, go to any college/university. This crowd doesn't want their parents' shoes.

On hit the scene with something that was strikingly different and catered directly to lifestyle wear. Their newer models - Go, Monster, updated Surfer and Flow, in particular - do a great job of giving legit runner options that are also comfy and stylish lifestyle.

All the other brands you mentioned have focused almost exclusively on catering to the runner crowd, but it's the lifestyle/comfort and medical referral crowds that is truly driving the Run Specialty industry.

If you had to describe the Sauncony brand and what it stands for.... could you? I think that's an issue, these brands don't actually mean anything to most people, they're basically commodities. What is Asics doing that is noteworthy? These brands don't do any actual branding, they just pump out boring shoes to a small segment of customers year after year then wonder why their market share has gone down the toilet.

Sorry but Hoka is popular among runners nowadays. NB is for 70+ American tourists. And as an FYI, On soes are damn ugly and you’re clueless to say they’re yoga shoes since yoga is practiced barefoot 😂